| This is a standard topic to teach in ESL/EFL classes. | | | | *A spoon or plate of rice (countable container) |
| Beginner teachers do not do a good job of it and I | | | | *Some soup (general non-countable) |
| have seen students get mixed up or confused in | | | | *A cup or bowl of soup (more specific amount and in |
| Korea and Kuwait. In essense, a teacher's job is to | | | | a countable container) |
| classify and explain two lists of words... | | | | *A few apples, bananas, steaks, people etc. |
| scupspacketsboxesbagscanscartonssteaks | | | | (countable) |
| chopsslicesspoonsbowlskg/km/g | | | | *Many oranges/children (countable) |
| NON-COUNTABLESricesugarsaltsandflour/powder | | | | *Several mangos (general countable) |
| dustjellyoilwaterjuicechopped | | | | *A bit of flour/sugar/oil/dust (non-countable) |
| vegiesstewspaghettimeatmilkgassoupbuttersoil | | | | Note that we can say SOME people and also SOME |
| After teacher reviews the two lists with the class the | | | | dust. This special word, SOME, is not definite and can |
| students get the hang of it. Then ask the the class to | | | | be used with both countables and non-countables. |
| classify the words into groups by circling them in | | | | After introducing this subject to a grade 11 Kuwait |
| coloured pen. They will need help. Basically, | | | | class I thought the students had a pretty good |
| non-countable nouns are very small things like grains | | | | understanding. But then I gave homework asking |
| and flour and dust, as well as liquids/fluids and wet or | | | | students to use: |
| messy or finely chopped foods. Countable nouns are | | | | A few..., Some.... , A little... , A bit...., Several..., Many.... each |
| big enough to be seen and counted easily and | | | | with three examples of food. Some students made |
| individually or things in containers like packets, boxes, | | | | zero mistakes and others botched it badly. It was |
| bags,cans or standard units like kilograms. Note that | | | | necessary to go over examples again and show that |
| sugar and ice can be be cubed and made countable. | | | | these words have to be used carefully and |
| Ask students to provide more examples of nouns and | | | | sometimes exclusively together with countables |
| add them to the board. | | | | non-coutables. |
| The next step is to introduce the following English | | | | Finally I told a little canibalistic joke they liked. I said we |
| words which are generally used with countables OR | | | | can use the expressions "a bit and a little people" only |
| non-countables. | | | | if we chop them finely. |
| *Some rice (non-countable) | | | | I hope somebody finds this useful. |